The traits that enabled you to become a leader are the same traits that can be your downfall. This is the dark side of leadership. The point is not that leaders have a dark side that others don’t. Everyone has a dark side, but when you are in leadership, particularly in the senior leader’s role, your dark side has the potential to wreak greater havoc than would be the case with most people simply because you have greater ability to affect people. As you rise through the leadership ranks acquiring more power and authority that you plan to use for good, your foibles from the dark side are also acquiring greater power to potentially do serious harm to yourself and others. More

There is no particular set of personality traits for leadership success. Some have charisma, some do not. Some are extroverts, some are not. And on it goes. Peter Drucker’s great insight is that performance, not personality, is the key to leadership. The best predictor of future success is a history of success. More